Ulster Run Out Seven-Try Winners Against Zebre

Ulster needed just one half of rugby to secure their crucial bonus point in Parma, adding three more tries in the second period to move above the Scarlets – heavily beaten at home by Glasgow Warriors – into fourth in the GUINNESS PRO12 with two rounds to play.

Jared Payne stood out with a hat-trick of tries in a fantastic 15-minute spell, while Ruan Pienaar and Craig Gilroy contributed one apiece, and Tommy Bowe, in his first game of a season decimated by the knee injury he sustained in the Rugby World Cup, grabbed himself a brace.

Eight points now separate table toppers Leinster and fourth-placed Ulster on 60 points, with Glasgow Warriors second on 66 and Connacht lying third on 63 ahead of tonight’s interprovincial clash with Munster. Perhaps more pertinently, any team from the Scarlets (58 points), Munster and Edinburgh (both 53) could still deprive Ulster of a play-off place, depending on how rounds 21 and 22 pan out.

Bowe made his very first appearance of the campaign in Ulster colours after a seven-month lay-off, coming straight into the starting line-up in the absence of Andrew Trimble, who was unavailable through illness.

Two other changes from the side that beat then league leaders Connacht a fortnight ago brought in Stuart Olding for Stuart McCloskey at centre – the youngster having sustained a shoulder injury against Pat Lam’s outfit – and saw Chris Henry drop to the bench to make way for Sean Reidy at flanker.

Payne continued at full-back with Gilroy on the left wing, Luke Marshall alongside Olding in midfield, Paddy Jackson at out-half and Pienaar in the number 9 jersey.

An unchanged front row of Callum Black, Rory Best and Ricky Lutton lined up ahead of Peter Browne and Franco van der Merwe, the South African lock earning his 50th cap for the province.

The back row of Reidy, Iain Henderson and history man Roger Wilson, making a record-breaking 204th Ulster appearance, completed the line-up, with Nick Williams still sidelined through injury.

In 20-degree heat in Parma, Ulster split open the Italian defence within three minutes, Jackson exploiting a gap down the left flank off Wilson’s pass and supplying Pienaar just inside the 22 for a clear run to the posts. The out-half’s conversion made it 7-0.

Zebre, with plenty to play for given that finishing above their compatriots Benetton Treviso will guarantee them a place in the 2016/17 European Champions Cup, responded immediately with a Guglielmo Palazzani try off the back of a forceful rolling maul, with Carlo Canna landing the levelling conversion from out wide.

In the very next Ulster attack Payne rode a high tackle on his way into the 22 where Bowe instinctively cut inside off his wing and eliminated the sole obstacle in the form of lock Valerio Bernabo to mark his return with a score, once more converted by Jackson.

As the game followed its see-saw pattern, Zebre failed to capitalise on a two-on-one with Canna and Matteo Pratichetti against van der Merwe, with referee Nigel Owens ruling that the Springbok had intentionally obstructed the out-half as he shaped to collect the ball.

Canna dispatched the resultant penalty but the next Ulster foray was to prove yet more fruitful, as Gilroy just beat Dion Berryman to Pienaar’s perfect chip towards the corner flag.

Jackson made it three conversions from three, and it was not long before a series of five-metre scrums culminated in a 39th minute try in the right hand corner for Payne, with Palazzani sent to the sin-bin for illegally slowing down the ball in the build-up to the score. Ulster went in at the break leading 26-10.

Payne nipped in for the fifth try just three minutes into the second period. It came following a sprightly diagonal run from Bowe and good distribution from Olding. Pienaar added the extras as Jackson left the pitch with a dead leg, replaced by Darren Cave.

Multiple substitutions followed, with Rob Herring, Robbie Diack and Chris Henry taking over from Best, van der Merwe and Wilson respectively, while Olding moved to the out-half berth vacated by Jackson. Ulster’s fluency went undisturbed, however, as Payne completed his hat-trick in the 52nd minute with Gilroy this time the provider.

Another Pienaar conversion extended the lead to 30 points, and although a fortunate bounce gave Zebre replacement full-back Ulrich Beyers an unobstructed run to the posts on the hour mark and a Canna conversion, Ulster overcame a spell of complacent play in the final quarter to finish the game in strong fashion.

Bowe touched down in the last minute after Cave had pounced on a loose ball well inside the Ulster half, man-of-the-match Olding this time converting.

Ulster have a potential 10 more points to play for in the final two rounds, hosting interprovincial rivals and current league leaders Leinster on Saturday, April 30 before travelling to Swansea to face the Ospreys a week later.